Apolipoprotein E and the response of the brain to injury

Apolipoprotein E (apoE) is an important part of the means by which lipids a re transported in the nervous system. This transport system provides injure d nerve cells, the cholesterol and phospholipids for the maintenance and re pair of membranes, the growth of neurites, dendritic remodelling and synapt ogenesis, and the effect of injury to the nervous system is now known in pa rt to be modulated by the various isoforms of apoE. After the demonstration of an association between the apoE epsilon 4 and increased risk of subsequ ent development of both sporadic and late-onset form Alzheimer's disease, r ecent studies have provided additional evidence for the possibility that ap oE may play an isoform - specific role in determining both the initial resp onse and the subsequent consequences to acute brain injury. Further studies are required to better understand not only the response(s) of the nervous system to injury, but also the relationship between acute injury to the bra in and the subsequent development of neurodegenerative disorders.